Compromised
by bartonalianovna
Summary: After SHIELD is destroyed, Clint Barton is nowhere to be found. Armed with a file and a few cryptic clues from Nick Fury, Natasha takes it upon herself to track him down and bring him home. But all the way there's a niggling fear at the back of her mind - with more and more HYDRA traitors appearing how can she be sure that the Clint Barton she knows isn't just a lie?


_Hello! This was heavily inspired by the song _Maps (Maroon 5)_, because I just felt like it fit Natasha and Clint after the events of _The Winter Soldier_. There are going to be major spoilers so please don't read it if you haven't yet watched it. I'm hoping this will turn out into quite a long story, I have lots of ideas for future chapters and things to include. Reviews and suggestions are much appreciated! Also apologies for the odd paragraph breakers, the layour was being a pain and it's a miracle I wa able to do three dots. Enjoy xx_

_disclaimer: if I owned Marvel Clintasha would most certainly be canon and there would be a Budapest movie._

_..._

_"Do me a favour and call that nurse?"_

_"She's not a nurse."_

_"And you're not a SHIELD agent."_

Natasha smiled at Steve and turned her back, heading towards her car. She felt freer than she had in a long time, but she knew it wouldn't last long. She'd have to restart her whole life, and she knew it wouldn't be easy. She didn't even know what she wanted to do. She couldn't settle down, she knew that. The Black Widow always had to be moving, on her toes. She'd learnt that the hard way.

"Agent Romanoff,"

"Director Fury," replied Natasha coolly, turning to face him. The director was leaning against the tree she had just passed, a file in his outstretched hand.

"I thought you might be interested in Barton's whereabouts." He clarified as Natasha took the file. Of course, she thought, Clint. "I managed to contact him just after I discovered SHIELD had been compromised. It was too dangerous to pull him out so I relocated him to a safe house nearby."

Natasha nodded in understanding, flicking through the file.

"Natasha," Fury said, staring intently at her, "There were a lot of traitors within SHIELD, make sure you know what you're getting into."

Her brow furrowed in confusion, surely he wasn't suggesting –

"HYDRA could still be out there Natasha, don't think that because Pierce has gone there aren't rouge agents around. Goodbye, Natasha. If you need me… you'll know where to find me." He tapped the file and stalked away, disappearing into the flurry of people crossing the road.

Natasha shook her head slightly to clear her thoughts, before shoving the file in her bag. She would read it later, but first she needed to get out of this graveyard; it was giving her the creeps. Slamming the door of her car, she let out a deep breath. Clint couldn't be – that wasn't possible – he would never, _never_ work for HYDRA. Or would he? The thought made her sick in the stomach, never before had she doubted or suspected Clint of anything. Their whole relationship was founded on complete trust, and she felt as though she had broken it just by thinking about it.

"Don't be stupid," she murmured to herself, "Clint loves you. You'll find him and then this will all fall into place."

_..._

_MISSION XI7J538: CLASSIFIED_

Natasha stared at the neat print on the cover of the folder. She'd never looked at a mission file that wasn't her own before, it felt strange. The clock on her bedside table read 1:03am; she'd been sitting there for a good 40 minutes. After leaving the graveyard, she'd driven out of New York to her old apartment. It was her retreat when she was allowed leave, a sanctuary from SHIELD and the guilt.

She surveyed the bedroom, remembering the last time she had been here. Clint had been with her then, it was straight after the battle of New York and they both needed a getaway point, so she had suggested her apartment. It wasn't much, a one bedroom with a conjoined kitchen/lounge room, but it had felt like a home. It didn't anymore.

This time there was no Clint to hold her and stroke her hair, to whisper to her that it was okay. There was no one to gently coax her from her nightmares, there was no steady breathing to remind her she wasn't alone. For the first time in months, it really hit her how much she missed him.

She turned the file over in her hands, before slowly opening it and reading through it. Words jumped out at her, and she read it as many times as she needed before she had the mission memorised. She ran over it in her head.

_Clint had been assigned to tail a Doctor Zander, a German scientist who was in the process of handing over some very delicate information about a cancer cure. SHIELD had suspected that there was more to it, and that it contained a serum that mutated DNA, but was having terrible side effects. Clint was to watch Dr Zander and give regular reports on his actions and collect evidence about the true nature of the cure. There was a safe house 40 miles from where he was situated, which is where Fury had relocated him after SHIELD was compromised. If all was well, he should still be there._

_"I received a check in from Barton once he reached the safe house. He got there alive, if he's still there is what you need to find out." _

She stared blankly at the scrawl next to details at the safe house. Would Clint still be there? Whatever Fury had told him, it was enough to get Clint to abandon a mission and go into hiding. But why? Why would HYDRA be interested in Clint? The questions sped through Natasha's mind at a million miles an hour, trying to think of as many possible scenarios as too why HYDRA could have been interested in Clint, and whether he would have been as much as a target so that they would have gone after him immediately.

Feeling more alone than ever, Natasha bundled up the file and tucked it safely away in her bag. As she finally slipped into bed, her hand curling around the pistol hidden beneath her pillow, there was one thought playing over and over in her mind.

What if she was too late?

...

_hehe, I really like the idea of Clint being a traitor but I guess you'll have to wait and see! I know it's a bit boring but I'm trying to set it up for when she finds Clint. Please review/follow/favourite if you deem it worthy, I'll have the next chapter up soon!_

_Bye! xxx_


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